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President Assad ''personally'' supervised operation against ''terrorist'' group in Damascus
Syrian president, Bashar Al Assad "personally" supervised Tuesday nightâs operation in al Mazza neighborhood of Damascus where a "terrorist" group attacked foreign targets, Syrian sources told Al Bawaba. Al Mazza is a neighborhood in Damascus known to be the residence to many foreign diplomats and embassies in addition to high ranking Syrian officials. Al Bawaba sources have revealed that president Assad drove in his car from his residence in the Rawda neighborhood to the scene at al Mazza to head the police force that were confronting the "terrorists."
Late on Tuesday, a "terrorist" group used two cars to fire RPG rounds at the ex-UN buildingâs ground floors which caused a fire in it. Security forces nearby the building fired back at the attackers, who then responded with their machine guns. Two "terrorists" were killed on the spot while a third was killed in hospital while being hospitalized. According to the Syrian police, a fourth terrorist was severely injured. "The Syrian Arab Republic which has confronted all forms of terrorism for more than 25 years, and condemns the terrorist incident which targeted the stability and security of the citizen and homeland," a Syrian official was quoted as saying on Wednesday. Syrian sources added that authorities found a "terrorist" hideout in Khan al-Sheikh, 25 kilometers south to Damascus where the group was hiding its weapons. Meanwhile, analysts were disregarding the possibility that Al Qaeda may have been responsible for the attack. Nabil Milhem, a prominent Syrian journalist, told Al Bawaba that he discounts any claims linking Osama Bin Laden's network to Tuesday attack. "I donât think Al Qaeda is behind this attack as their previous attacks were organized and better plannedâŠlike the Riyadh and Casablanca attacks as well as many others around the world," Milhem explained. According to Mohammed Jarad, editor-in-chief of the Syrian state-owned daily Tishreen, investigations are now underway to determine who was behind the attack. "It is still too early to say anything. Terrorism has now become a global problem and not just a Syrian one,â conveyed Jarad. Posted by: Steve 2004-04-28 |
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